Mobility Data: Empowering CPG Companies with Privacy-First Location Intelligence

In the physical retail landscape, knowing where consumers go and how they move is no longer a luxury you can miss out on. It’s a must-have source of information. 

Mobility data has become the missing piece for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies to gain deeper insights into customer visitation patterns. This location-based intelligence shows not just where customers shop but how they move throughout the day—revealing patterns in visits, dwell times, and shopping frequency. This empowers CPG brands to make smarter decisions around product placement, distribution, and marketing strategies.

According to recent research from McKinsey, 71% of CPG leaders have said they leverage AI and advanced analytics in at least one area of business functions. Applying these tools to mobility data can boost margins and offer a significant competitive edge.

In this article, we’ll look at how mobility data transforms CPG operations, what to look for in a mobility data provider, and how dataplor’s privacy-first approach delivers comprehensive, high-quality insights without compromising consumer privacy. 

Mobility Data in Action: CPG Use Cases

Mobility data goes far beyond simple location tracking. 

For CPG companies looking to improve their market position and boost revenue, mobility data offers powerful opportunities to optimize performance by improving distribution, refining marketing strategies, and gaining deeper insights into customer behavior.

Understanding Consumer Behavior

Mobility data provides a real-world view of consumer visitation, delivering insights that traditional location data can’t.  When aggregated and analyzed correctly, this data shows:

• How customers move between different locations
• Dwell time in retail environments
• Cross-shopping patterns between neighboring stores

For example, a beverage manufacturer might discover their target demographic visits fitness centers before grocery stores on weeknights. This intelligence could change their distribution and promotional strategies.

Optimizing Distribution Networks

For CPG companies, distribution efficiency is the bottom line. Mobility data helps manage logistics networks by showing:

• High-traffic retail locations to stock priority
• Regional variations in in-store visitation patterns
• Best delivery routes based on store visitation peaks
• Competitive density mapping

Travelers want directions they can rely on, and so do CPG logistics teams. When high-quality data informs distribution decisions, products arrive where needed most and when demand peaks.

Targeting Marketing Campaigns

Generic marketing rarely delivers good ROI. Mobility metrics, on the other hand, allow for hyper-targeted campaign planning:

• Find complementary retailers for partnerships
• Determine the best billboard and out-of-home advertising locations
• Validate audience segments with real-world behavior

Measuring Campaign Effectiveness

Traditional campaign measurement is all about sales lift, but mobility data helps add much-needed context:

• Track visitation patterns to retailers that carry your products
• Compare store traffic before, during, and after promotions
• Analyze competitive visitation from your campaigns
• Measure actual footfall from specific marketing initiatives

For CPG brands, this closes the loop between marketing spend and in-store impact, allowing for continuous campaign optimization.

Choosing the Right Mobility Data Provider: Key Considerations

Not all mobility data is collected equally. In the same way that public agencies, cities, and private companies rely on shared languages and standards, a mobility data provider should offer clear and consistent data formats for easy integration and understanding.

Data Accuracy and Reliability

The foundation of any good mobility dataset is accuracy. Reliable directions require high-quality data inputs. Look for providers who:

• Have rigorous data verification processes
• Use multiple data sources for validation
• Provide transparent methodology documentation
• Have regular, documented update frequencies

Never compromise on quality—insufficient and inaccurate data can lead to poor decision-making, which can ripple throughout your organization.

Data Coverage

Comprehensive geographic coverage is key for CPG companies with a global footprint. It’s important to evaluate if the provider has:

• National and global mobility data coverage
• Rural and urban area representation
• Multiple retailer types and categories
• Consistent methodologies across different regions

The more complete the data, the better equipped you are to develop scalable solutions that support your entire market footprint.

Data Privacy and Compliance

With increasing regulatory scrutiny, privacy can’t be an afterthought. Look for providers who:

• Never collect personally identifiable information (PII)
• Implement rigorous data anonymization protocols
• Follow GDPR and other regulations for compliance 
• Filter out sensitive information and locations

A responsible provider ensures standardized, high-quality, and comprehensive processes that respect privacy while delivering valuable, actionable insights to businesses.

Maximizing the Value of Mobility Data

Acquiring mobility data is just the beginning. To unlock its full value, organizations should build capabilities across multiple dimensions.

However, many companies struggle to implement mobility data due to technical complexity, organizational silos, and analysis paralysis. 

To overcome these challenges:

• Integrate data across systems: Connect mobility insights with your existing customer, sales, and inventory management platforms.
• Build cross-functional teams: Bring together marketing, sales, supply chain, and analytics experts to interpret findings holistically.
• Start with specific use cases: Rather than targeting an area that is too broad, begin with high-impact applications like new product launches or significant campaign optimizations.
• Invest in visualization: Complex mobility patterns become accessible when visualized effectively and can improve the adoption of standardized formats across your organization.
• Develop systemic solutions: Build long-term capabilities for mobility data use through clear processes, tools, and ongoing knowledge sharing.

Organizations that effectively operationalize mobility data can achieve greater ROI from their marketing investments compared to those who collect, but underutilize such data.

dataplor’s Mobility Data: Privacy-First Location Intelligence

At dataplor, we believe powerful insights shouldn’t come at the cost of privacy. Our approach to mobility data stands out through several key advantages:

Privacy-First Approach

Unlike some vendors who’ve faced legal challenges over privacy concerns, dataplor built privacy protection into its foundation:

• Zero collection of personally identifiable information (PII)
• Algorithmic filtering of sensitive locations
• GDPR compliant methodologies

We don’t just comply with regulations; we exceed them with a fundamental commitment to ethical data practices.

Global Coverage with Consistent Methodology

CPG customers benefit from dataplor’s unmatched international coverage:

• Standardized data collection across countries
• Consistent schema for easy cross-market analysis
• Comprehensive coverage beyond urban centers
• Reliable mobility insights to support global expansion strategies

Our global mobility data enables accurate market comparison and strategy development across borders.

Actionable Intelligence

Raw data without context has limited value. dataplor transforms location signals into business intelligence:

• Estimated visitor metrics derived from proprietary algorithms
• Polygon-accurate location definitions
• Time-based visitation patterns
• Competitive benchmarking capabilities

Our estimated visitor count algorithm incorporates population density, signal frequency, and historical patterns to deliver accurate metrics without compromising privacy.

Customized for CPG Applications

We understand the unique challenges faced by CPG companies:

• Retailer-specific intelligence
• Category-level competitive analysis
• Distribution optimization insights
• Campaign effectiveness measurement

Our data bridges your business questions with actionable insights, powered by our location intelligence expertise.

Mobility Data: A Powerful Tool for CPG Success

As visitation patterns evolve over time, CPG companies with access to high-quality mobility data gain a major competitive advantage. 

By understanding physical world consumer journeys, optimizing distribution networks, targeting marketing efforts more accurately, and measuring real-world impact, they are set up for long-term growth.

dataplor’s privacy-first mobility data gives CPG companies the intelligence they need without the ethical and legal headaches that other providers face. Our global methodology, rigorous verification processes, and customized analytics deliver measurable business outcomes.

Ready to see how mobility data can transform your CPG business? Get in touch with dataplor today to learn how our privacy-first approach to location intelligence can help you understand consumer behavior, optimize operations, and grow in a competitive market.